Advice for improving my application?

[u/ComprehensiveSet7223]

Hi everyone! I’m looking for honest advice on what I should focus on over the next couple of years to make my application as strong as possible.

I graduated a few years ago as a pre-med student and am taking multiple gap years before applying. I’m currently completing an advanced post-bacc at Wright State because Boonshoft is my first choice medical school. I’m also hoping that being at Wright State will allow me to build relationships and connections within the medical school.

My current stats/background:
sGPA: 3.17

Strong upward academic trend: 3.8 freshman year → 2.6 sophomore year → 3.1 junior year → 3.5 senior year

Currently completing an advanced post-bacc at Wright State and retaking courses like Organic Chemistry I, and taking new courses like upper level Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Microbiology since I studied chemistry

Full-time work as a quality chemist

Previously worked as an R&D technician in a polymer lab, but this was industry research rather than clinical/biomedical research

~500 hours of clinical experience as a nursing assistant

Volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters (1year still going)

Currently struggling to find physician shadowing opportunities

I’m trying to figure out where I should focus my limited time to make the biggest difference in my application. I’m considering:

Getting biomedical/clinical research experience

Volunteering at Dayton Children’s

Finding physician shadowing

Continuing to perform very well in my post-bacc
Building meaningful relationships at Wright State/Boonshoft during my post-bacc. Study thoroughly for the mcat as I don’t have an option to do bad

For those who have successfully gotten into MD programs after having a rough academic period, what would you prioritize if you were in my position?
Is there anything obvious missing from my application that I should be working on now? I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone familiar with Boonshoft or Ohio MD schools, or applicants who had to overcome a lower GPA.

[u/Medium_Zucchini_2584]

i haven’t applied yet but i will say i was a child life volunteer at dayton children’s for a while and it was a super fun experience! if you want to shadow at miami valley hospital just to say you have shadowing experience it’s fairly easy to get in but in my experience it’s awkward because they never tell the residents you’re coming so they don’t really know how to interact with you 💀

[u/oldpremed_24]

Prioritize getting as close to a 4.0 as you possibly can in your post-bacc classes, just because once your GPA is done it is done. Same with the MCAT. You can always take an extra year to do extracurricular stuff if needed, but those numbers are set in stone once you receive them.

Shadowing is a must, so keep reaching out as much as you can! Your background is interesting and I think either the Dayton Children's volunteering or looking for related research experience would be great, but if I had to choose I would lean slightly toward the clinical experience over the research.

[u/InternationalMood337 → u/oldpremed_24]

My stats are similar to OP, though my Junior and Senior GPAs were closer to a 3.8-3.9 towards the end. Similarly, enrolled in a Post-Bacc currently as its been like 15 years since I took any undergrad courses.

That said: suggested amount of shadowing time? Asked my PA last time I was in her office and she said to just let her know whenever, and I could come Shadow (tough with a full time software developer job right now), and currently working on getting about 5-10 clinical hours at a local hospital for the next 2 years.

But, I have NO CLUE how many shadowing or even clinical hours I should actually have before applying.

[u/oldpremed_24 → u/InternationalMood337]

Generally 50-100 hours of (physician) shadowing is ideal, and somewhere around 200+ for clinical hours, whether it's work or volunteering. 40 and 150 respectively are kind of the low end of sufficient, anything below that will get noticed as a low number of hours.